This month, TEAG President Özdemir İçin talks about the association’s developments, accreditation and training schemes.

STM: What has been TEAG’s focus in the last 12 months?

Ö.İ.: We have focused on providing a forum for TEAG members to exchange opinions and concerns, discuss collective grievances regarding visas and other problematic issues surrounding the market and uphold our reputation as a reliable information source for overseas educators in the Turkish market. We have welcomed five new members, we attended Edufairs, Alphe Istanbul and ICEF Dubai to explain our aims and current work and to meet new schools and agencies. TEAG members come together bimonthly to exchange ideas. We lobby consulates to promote better understanding of identified concerns over standard setbacks experienced by language students and by the international travel sector as a whole.

STM: Wheredo you stand on accreditation policy/standards? Do you think accrediting agents/agencies is necessary?

Ö.İ.: We think that accrediting agents/agencies is necessary to standardize the main services of the market. To be accepted as a TEAG member we ask candidate firms whether they are suitable for the Felca accreditation code of conduct or not. All of our members adhere to the Felca accreditation code of conduct.

STM: How do you feel about agent training schemes?

Ö.İ.: There are very few training organizations and unfortunately agents have to pay too much to attend.

STM: What activities does TEAG have planned?

Ö.İ.: We are planning to organize workshops for our members that will be exhibited by the schools representatives in our office and we are going to organize meetings with consulates about visa procedures. We would like to attend related organizations like Alphe to meet new agencies and schools.